Count Myshkin comes back to Russia from Switzerland where he was under care in psychiatric hospital. He meets Parfen Rogozhin on a train on his way to St.Petersburg. Rogozhin tells Myshkin about his passionate love for Nastasia Filippovna who used to be a kept-woman of millionaire Totsky. When the count gets to Petersburg, he comes to the house of his distant relative Epanchina who is a wife of a general. Myshkin meets Epanchina’s husband, their daughters, and general’s secretary Ganya Ivolgin. Nastasia Filippovna’s portrait that was accidentally spotted by the count on the general’s table creates a big impression on Myshkin…

This incarnation of "The Idiot" is arguably the first which portrays Dostoyevsky’s entire novel; earlier versions have focused on only the first part, or the main storyline. No effort was spared in reproducing period detail; several museums provided fabric and lace for the costumes.